September 30, 2018

Cleveland joins more than 80 U.S. cities that have committed
to get all their electricity from renewable sources. But in Ohio, that might be
easier said than done.

Cleveland's climate action plan includes improving energy
efficiency in buildings to help lower electricity demand as it shifts to 100
percent renewable power.

Cleveland, Ohio, which has worked for years to reinvent
itself as it sheds its industrial past, has become the latest major city to
announce plans to shift to 100 percent renewable energy sources for
electricity.

The plan stands out in a state that in recent years has been
more inclined to roll back clean energy rules than strengthen them, and in a
territory served by FirstEnergy, which has been a leading burner of fossil
fuels.

City officials announced the 100 percent renewable power
target Thursday as they released an
update to Cleveland's climate action plan, which aims to reduce
greenhouses gases to 80 percent below the 2010 level by 2050.

The plan discusses cutting emissions through improvements in
energy efficiency and building design; developing more renewable energy within
the city and region, including offshore wind power in Lake Erie; and increasing
the use of public transportation and access to electric vehicle charging to
reduce fossil fuel use.

It sets a 2050 deadline for getting to 100 percent renewable
electricity. But there are no details about how the city will work with its
local utilities to implement the plan, an omission that raised concerns among
some environmental advocates.

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson said in a letter
introducing the
report that local leadership on climate is needed more than ever since
President Trump announced he was pulling the U.S. out of the Paris climate
agreement.

"This plan is about much more than climate
change," Jackson said. "Implementing the actions in this plan will
create a more sustainable Cleveland. By strengthening our economy, cleaning our
environment, and improving the health and wellness of Clevelanders, we are
building a thriving green city on a blue lake."

Transforming a Former Industrial Stronghold

Cleveland is where John D. Rockefeller and a partner
incorporated Standard Oil in 1870, and where steel production and other heavy
industry formed the city's economic backbone for decades. Heavy industry also
took a heavy toll on the city, with pollution that became so problematic it led
to a notorious 1969 fire on
the Cuyahoga River.

With the decline of heavy industry, Cleveland's population
fell. Now, city leaders hope to make clean energy one its drivers of economic
growth.

"The business case for energy efficiency and green
buildings is strong," the plan says. "They have lower utility and
maintenance costs, less risk from energy price volatility, increase property
values, improve health and productivity of occupants, create local jobs, and
much more." It also highlights renewable energy jobs, including in
manufacturing of wind turbines and battery storage.

Cleveland released its first climate plan in 2013. The
latest version talks about the health and property damage risks to the region,
citing Environmental Protection Agency data showing more frequent heat waves,
heavy downpours occuring twice as often as they did a century ago, and annual
temperatures in the Midwest on pace to rise 3 degrees Fahrenheit over the next
few decades. To help combat climate change,
the report calls for a 40 percent reduction in city emissions compared to
2010 levels by 2030 and 80 percent by 2050.

The city has a long way to go, however. In 2016, emissions
were down only 2 percent from 2010, the report says.

Will Utilities Go Along with the Plan?

The goals are laudable but the deadline is not ambitious
enough, said Sandy Buchanan, the Cleveland-based executive director of the
Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, a nonprofit clean-energy
research group.

"They seem out of step with advancements in the global
electricity market" which would allow for a more rapid transition, she
said.

Also, she notes that there are almost no details about how
the 100 percent renewable energy pledge will be met. She would like to see
specifics about how the city's two main utilities, FirstEnergy and Cleveland
Public Power, would adjust their practices to make it possible for the
Cleveland to meet the goals.

The city government controls Cleveland Public Power, but not
FirstEnergy. Mark Durbin, a FirstEnergy spokesman, said his company was not
part of the discussions that led to Cleveland's commitment.

Ohio's Shifting Views on Clean Energy

Ohio's state government has had an on again, off again
relationship with renewable energy. The state took a big step forward on clean
energy with a 2008 law that set requirements for renewable energy and energy
efficiency, but the
state has taken steps backwards since then with a weakening of the
clean-energy standards and new restrictions on where wind turbines can be
placed.

In the absence of state action, clean-energy advocates have
been focusing on Ohio's cities, such as Cincinnati and Columbus.

Columbus "is considering the feasibility of several
pathways to get to 100 percent electricity from renewable sources," said
Robin Davis, spokeswoman for Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther. She said it's
possible a goal of 100 percent renewable energy could be folded into its
planning underway on a climate plan.

Cleveland now joins a list of 82 U.S. cities that have made
pledges to get to 100 percent renewable energy, according to the Sierra
Club's Ready for 100
campaign.